Miami offer gives Winter Park DE Trent Harris state trifecta

Winter Park DE Trent Harris gained his 15th college football scholarshiop offer Tuesday (April 23) from the University of Miami.

Winter Park DE Trent Harris gained his 15th college football scholarshiop offer Tuesday (April 23) from the University of Miami. (CHRIS HAYS/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Winter Park defensive lineman Trent Harris became the first Central Florida 2014 college football prospect to pull off the state trifecta Tuesday when Miami joined the mix of Florida schools offering the touted junior.

Florida and Florida State were already in the mix and now Miami throws a bit of a wrench into the equation that Harris said he almost had figured out.

“Man, I wasn’t even really thinking about that,” Harris said of having all three state offers, “but I’m just blessed and I’m excited about it.”

Harris (6-foot-3, 231 pounds), who now has 15 offers, had pretty much dwindled his list to three — UF, FSU and Alabama — vying for his services, and then Georgia became a player after Harris took an unofficial visit to Athens this past weekend. With Miami in play, Harris may now have more to think about.

“I know they produce a good amount of players to NFL,” Harris said. “I want to take a visit down there to see what it’s like. I know it’s a good academic school. There is definitely a lot more to think about.”

Harris, ranked No. 3 in the Sentinel's 2014 Central Florida Super60, had originally planned to make his decision public at the end of spring camp and was set to announce his plans following the Wildcats spring game against Olympia on May 23.

“It’s definitely getting a lot more difficult and I’m thinking a lot more about it,” Harris said. “Hopefully I’ll be ready to make my decision and get it all done. My original date was after our spring game but I’m not sure if I can do that now.”

His Georgia visit is one of the factors causing him to give his decision more thought.

“I loved the facilities there and I met the outside linebackers coach [Todd Grantham] and I like the type of defense they run. It’s kind of like a 3-4 where I’d be kind of a pass-rushing outside linebacker, but I think I can fit in well there with a lot of work and development.”

Playing linebacker has gotten him a little more intrigued about his college position of the future, although he says that ultimately his decision will not come down to what position he is slated to play, but where he feels most comfortable.

Alabama and Georgia are both looking at him as an outside linebacker, Florida is more leaning toward him being a weak-side defensive end and Florida State would probably have him as a down-lineman coming off the end.

“To be honest, it really doesn’t make any difference to me what position. I just want to go play the game of football,” he said.

If he isn’t ready to make his decision at the end of the spring session, Harris said he will definitely want to get it done prior to the beginning of fall camp and his senior season.

The next goal is to create meaningful moments for the Miami Heat, meaningful playoff moments, after his first season with the team produced only a lottery finish. But for Luol Deng, what transpired Saturday in South Africa made the start of the 2015-16 basketball cycle particularly meaningful.